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New system came and I'm getting 3 completely different CPU ratings..
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| DJ Robby Rox |
I'm really confused about why this is happening but I'll explain.
I just finished loading the OS/getting all the bios settings straight, and I want to see how much work I can throw at this new processor (AMD 6 core).
I have 5 cpu heavy patches open in sytrus, all pads, using 4 keys per synth. And I'm noticing that FL is having a bitch of a time getting an accurate CPU read on its meter. If I press play, the cpu will consistenly bounce between 27% and 40%. It doesn't just stay in the middle and it ALWAYS goes back and forth. Down to 27, up to 40. Its 20 sustained notes playing so it shouldn't be bouncing like that afaik.
Now when I open windows task manager, it seems to bounce a bit between 9-12% cpu.
To make matters even more confusing, I have a program that installed with the mobo, "MSI Afterburner". Its basically where all your overclock settings are, temperature, shader clock, memory clock, etc.
I would LOVE for this to be the right reading, because it reads 0%. When you turn FL on, it spikes up to about 1%, then moseys on back down to 0%. In this program the line is almost perfectly straight although it does teether the tiniest amount up and down. But according to this is looks like the 5 synths aren't doing to my cpu at all.
So theres FL reading 27-40%
Task Manager reading 9-12%
Then MSI Afterburned tells me its 0-1%.
Which one should I trust? I thought task manager would be accurate but I'm not sure why its giving me such a different reading than the software that came with my mobo. I figure I'll load up like 50 cpu heavy synths and see how FL acts then, but can task manager be inaccurate? |
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| Mad for Brad |
FL is probably measuring your asio bandwidth usage. Task manager is looking at your entire system which FL can't completely use and MSI afterburner probably just averages it out.
You should worry about the FL one as that is the program you are using. IF FL thinks it is at 60% , well that is what you are at.
Are you over-clocking your computer ? bad ideas unless you really know what you are doing which I can honestly say you don't after knowing you for 2 years.
Why the hell did you buy amd ? you are the absolute worst at making proper decisions. Also understand that FL is not the most efficient DAW and I doubt it manages multiple cores and hyper threading well.
And finally, stop benchmarking. Make your music and if you run out of cpu , freeze a channel. You are so ing OCD it makes me seem normal. |
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| Subtle |
| it always bounces back and fourth in the task manager. |
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| DJ Robby Rox |
Fucck this. Is AMD really that bad? I'll return this tommorow.
I've only used intel up untill this point and I didn't think the difference would be this big but I am not impressed one ing bit by this chip. I think my core2duo has more processing power and that has 4 less cores. And no its not overclocked but I was considering it seeing that its choking at only 15 synths now.
You can't freeze in FL which is why I have to work like this. I can bounce audio but I need all my settings saved which is why I don't do it. If I have to go back and make a tweak there's no way. Even by doing smart disable it only disables whats not being used, and its never made a huge difference in my projects although its still better than nothing.
What is a fast fast chip? Should I just get the I5 from intel? I don't wanna work any more being limited like this it kills my motivation like nothing else and I haven't finished 1 track in 2 years because of this. |
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| EddieZilker |
| Resolve this with FL customer support. |
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| Mad for Brad |
Robby,
what you need to do is go on some audio forum where they talk about computers and specs. And just get something that many people have had success with. Quit taking chances. Just get what other people are using successfully. Why are you stressing yourself out like this.
Do a few hours or research and when I say research , not newegg or whatever place you keep going to. Research people that use their computer for audio and find the setup that seems to be the most successful.
You put yourself thru so much rubbish.Accept you know nothing and just go with what people have claimed works. Don't cut corners and think you will save some money. Just make it easy on yourself and get a machine that has already been tested. Don't get the top of the line. Get a system that has been around a few months that has been tested and all the kinks have been worked out. Or get a mac. I'm actually curious as to when the last time you actually finished something ? Has it been a matter of years ? Do you not see how this is killing your creativity.
And I really don't think you can return a chip once the paste has been applied. Good luck. |
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| Eric J |
If power is your primary concern, get an Intel i7 series if you can afford it. Lower end i7 has 4 cores, hyperthreaded, which is 8 concurrent threads. If you really have the cash, go for the 980X extreme which is 6 cores HT, for 12 concurrent threads, but its like a grand just for the CPU.
Also keep in mind that CPU speed is not the only factor in system performance. Motherboard FSB speed and RAM must also be considered when dealing with hardcore number crunching. Newer high end machines (servers mostly) are going to have multi-core, HT processors in addition to fast FSB and things like triple channel RAM. Some of the newer servers also have dedicated RAM per processor for even more performance gains
That being said, I don't think you need all that. At some point you'll be up against diminishing returns since FL will not use all the cores as efficiently as other DAW packages. |
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| Subtle |
| quote: | Originally posted by Eric J
That being said, at some point you'll be up against diminishing returns since FL will not use all the cores as efficiently as other DAW packages. |
Yes, and i bet those AMD chips arent clocked very high since they are six-cores, and that means a lot if the app isnt very supportive of multi threading.
That being said, i have an Quad AMD myself and i dont have any particular CPU problems, running very huge projects. |
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| Eric J |
| quote: | Originally posted by Subtle
Yes, and i bet those AMD chips arent clocked very high since they are six-cores, and that means a lot if the app isnt very supportive of multi threading.
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Yeah, thats probably a fair assessment.
| quote: | Originally posted by Subtle
That being said, i have an Quad AMD myself and i dont have any particular CPU problems, running very huge projects. |
Same here. My Mac Pro has two dual core XEON processors, for a total of 4 threads. I've maxed it out before, but rarely do so these days. Intelligent distribution of resources in my projects have allowed me to use this setup for very large projects without much of a problem.
Hell, Logic didn't even use all the cores efficiently until just recently. A lot of these newer processors have very little software capable of taking advantage of all that power right off the bat. It takes software development a little bit to catch up to the hardware. Even Visual Studio 2010 doesn't use all my threads, and thats brand new from Microsoft. |
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| DJ Robby Rox |
(@M4B) Yeh true, very good point.
I "researched" by comparing benchmarks and reading hours of reviews on newegg but now I see you can't really trust benchmarks or newegg.
I'll go visit some techgeek forum and see what they say.
An A/B comparison did show that its faster than my duo, but its the difference between 80% and 96% on the same project which is afaic.
And tbo I haven't finished a track since 2007, so its been more than a couple years. I definitely see what its doing to my creativity now and I have no choice but to get this sorted out once and for all. You're prob right about the chip too but I'll just wind up putting it right back in its package (nothing was torn/ripped when I opened it) and selling it on ebay as new or barely used.
Thanks for putting up with my though this urks me like nothing else.
(@Eric) Thanks I do have the money for the I7 considering I just blew a thousand on this crap system. I made sure bus speeds/cache/memory were all fast, I have 8gbs ram but I think either the CPU or FL itself is my weak point. As much as I hear people working on quad systems (I was sure I'd be 'safe' with a 6 core), on programs OTHER than FL, and not complaining about cpu, I think I really just might move over to Logic after this.
My brother has an I7 in his computer and I wanna test FL on it tommorow just to see how it works. And if its fast than I'll just dish for the I7, but I have a gutfeeling FL is as much to blame as this crappy AMD. Thanks all for the help I really appreciate it. |
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| Mad for Brad |
| don't go to techgeek. Go to some audio forum. don't worry about benchmark. Just get a system that many people agree is good. All those benchmarks were made for video games. They mean nothing in the audio world. |
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| Mad for Brad |
| quote: | Originally posted by Eric J
Yeah, thats probably a fair assessment.
Same here. My Mac Pro has two dual core XEON processors, for a total of 4 threads. I've maxed it out before, but rarely do so these days. Intelligent distribution of resources in my projects have allowed me to use this setup for very large projects without much of a problem.
Hell, Logic didn't even use all the cores efficiently until just recently. A lot of these newer processors have very little software capable of taking advantage of all that power right off the bat. It takes software development a little bit to catch up to the hardware. Even Visual Studio 2010 doesn't use all my threads, and thats brand new from Microsoft. |
logic still doesn't quite use the cores as well as it could. A track will use only one core and it isn't shared with the others. They suggest a work around where if you have some channel that has a really heavy load , you send it to an aux channel and add half of the FX there. Too bad. I can't complain tho. I have 2 mac pros with 32 gigs of ram each. I'm in heaven.
I still don't get how EDM producers need all that power. A typical cue I do has about 60 channels at 48 kHz , 20 gigs of ram loaded and FX on almost every channel. I remember making EDM before dual/quad cores were around and I was able to manage. |
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